Cable Systems Switch Channels

At least six cable television networks are being yanked from the air in pockets of Central Florida, the result of a programming upheaval caused by new federal cable regulations.

Cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. pulled the plug on three channels in the Altamonte Springs area Sunday night. Out: The Family Channel; the Movie Channel; and VH-1 and the Comedy Channel, which share air time on one channel. In: WCEU, a PBS channel out of Daytona Beach; WTGL, a religious broadcasting channel out of Cocoa Beach; and WBCC, an educational channel originating in Brevard County.

FOR THE RECORD - ****************** CORRECTION PUBLISHED JULY 21, 1993 **********************- Because of incorrect information from Cablevision Industries, programming changes by the cable operator in St. Cloud, Clermont and Winter Garden were incorrectly reported in Tuesday's Local & State section. Cablevision Industries has dropped WTOG-Channel 44 from its St. Cloud system and added WBCC, a PBS channel produced by Brevard Community College; and WGTL-Channel 52, an independent religious channel from Cocoa Beach. The Winter Garden system has dropped The Learning Channel and WTOG and added WCEU-Channel 15, a PBS channel from New Smyrna Beach; WIRB-Channel 56, an independent station from Melbourne; and WBCC. Programming in Clermont has not been changed. ****************************************************************************

FOR THE RECORD - ****************** CORRECTION PUBLISHED JULY 21, 1993 **********************- Because of incorrect information from Cablevision Industries, programming changes by the cable operator in St. Cloud, Clermont and Winter Garden were incorrectly reported in Tuesday's Local & State section. Cablevision Industries has dropped WTOG-Channel 44 from its St. Cloud system and added WBCC, a PBS channel produced by Brevard Community College; and WGTL-Channel 52, an independent religious channel from Cocoa Beach. The Winter Garden system has dropped The Learning Channel and WTOG and added WCEU-Channel 15, a PBS channel from New Smyrna Beach; WIRB-Channel 56, an independent station from Melbourne; and WBCC. Programming in Clermont has not been changed.****************************************************************************

At Cablevision Industries, the Learning Channel on the Winter Garden system and WTOG-Channel 44 serving the St. Cloud and Clermont system were both replaced recently by locally produced religious programming, said Rich Gunter, director of government relations for the cable operator.

And while no channels have yet been eliminated by CableVision of Central Florida, which services about 355,000 homes in Central Florida, there is ''a strong possibility'' that at least one channel will be dropped from the lineup to accommodate local programming, said Jim Rozier, vice president of marketing and business development. He would not say which programming might be dropped.

''From a consumer perspective, it's very frustrating,'' said Jackson Hattan, area manager for TCI Florida. ''They've become accustomed to viewing certain channels, and they're losing those channels. . . . So, yes, the phones have been busy.''

Cable operators said they hoped to simply reshuffle existing programs and make room for the newcomers. But a lack of cable channels and demands of local broadcasters to be included on cable channels forced operators to make a choice: Break the law or bump existing programming.

The law, as detailed in the 1992 Cable Act, requires cable operators to include local broadcasters on the cable line-up by Oct. 1 if they meet certain requirements, such as signal strength.

But consumer advocates said the decision by cable operators to bump certain channels may be a ploy to rid themselves of expensive programming. Often times, they said, cable operators will leave less expensive and less popular programming on the air.

''Cable (operators) may be manipulating the law to manufacture outrage, where there did not need to be outrage,'' said Bradley Stillman of the Consumer Federation of America.

Hattan said that TCI surveyed its 14,700 customers who are affected by the programming change in Altamonte Springs and found that the bumped channels were ''among'' the least popular.

Peggy Laramie, spokeswoman for the National Cable Television Association, which is fighting the cable act in court, said that roughly 2,000 out of 11,000 cable systems in the country will have to bump existing networks if local broadcasters request access. They could also double up programming, offering two cable networks on one channel. In a few years, the era of 500-channel cable systems will have arrived, making cable accessible to almost anybody. But in the interim, cable operators must make choices.

''Unfortunately, it is happening in other communities,'' she said. ''And unfortunately, the cable operators' hands are tied.''